The last photo of a family who died after a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York has emerged, including Spanish tech CEO Agustin Escobar, his wife and their three young children. The horrific accident took place at 3:17pm local time on Thursday, April 10, with an unnamed pilot also killed.
Witnesses said the aircraft’s propeller “broke off mid-air”, sending it plummeting downwards near Pier 40 at a high speed before crashing upside-down into the water. Emergency services flocked to the scene, with New Yorkers warned to expect a high police and ambulance presence and traffic delays.
The overturned chopper was lifted out of the river by a crane as part of a major rescue operation overnight. It had reportedly taken off from the Wall Street heliport and circled the Statue of Liberty as part of a sightseeing tour when disaster struck just 16 minutes into the flight. The aircraft was operated by New York Helicopters, officials said, with a National Transportation Safety Board investigation understood to be underway.
Tech CEO who died in crash was city’s ‘most brilliant son’
The mayor of Puertollano, the Spanish city where Siemens CEO Agustin Escobar grew up, has paid tribute to the tech boss, describing him as one of the area’s most “brilliant and committed sons”, The Mirror reports.
“He was an outstanding professional in the field of engineering and business management,” a statement from Puertollano City Council read.
“Escobar was very involved in the industrial life of Puertollano. From his responsibility in the company Siemens, he had participated in the Green Steel project planned for the city.
“[The council] conveys its condolences to the relatives, friends and loved ones of Agustin Escobar and his family, and accompanies in grief all those who mourn his loss today.
“The city deeply regrets the departure of one of its most brilliant and committed sons.”
New York chopper crash latest in series of high-profile US air incidents
While the deadly helicopter crash in New York on Thursday was the first for a chopper in the city since 2019, the US has recorded several other high-profile incidents and close-calls in recent months.
Seven people were killed when a medical transport jet crashed into a Philadelphia neighbourhood in January.
Just two days before, an American Airlines jet and an Army Helicopter also collided in mid-air over Washington in the deadliest US air disaster in a generation.
Spanish family were ‘on holiday to celebrate child’s birthday’
The family of tech CEO Agustin Escobar were visiting New York as part of a holiday celebrating one of the children’s birthdays, according to Spanish news outlet El Diario.
Catalan radio station RAC1 also reported: “[The family] had hired a helicopter ride to the Statue of Liberty because it was one of the children’s birthdays.”
Escobar died alongside his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their children aged 4, 5 and 11 after a sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon.
Mayor ‘warned that New York airspace was too crowded’
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said the overcrowded airspace in New York was “an issue we have pushed at the federal level for a decade with no response”.
“This is not the first crash that has happened and the reality is that the airspace here is too crowded over a densely populated area to allow this,” he wrote on X.
“These tourist helicopters should not be allowed and hopefully this terrible tragedy brings some change so that it will never happen again to any other family.”
Spanish Prime Minister shares ‘grief’ over fatal crash
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described the death of five Spanish citizens, including three young children, in a New York helicopter crash on Thursday as “devastating”.
“The news reaching us today of the helicopter crash in the Hudson River is devastating,” Sanchez wrote on X, in a post shared at 1:32am local time on Friday.
“Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, and the pilot have lost their lives. An unimaginable tragedy,” he added.
“I share in the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time.”
Pedro Sanchez described the crash as an “unimaginable tragedy” (Image: Getty)
Tragic photos show family moments before crash
The family of Spanish tech CEO Agustin Escobar were pictured on-board a chopper ahead of the planned sightseeing tour of New York on Thursday that would see all of them lose their lives.
Photos show one of Escobar’s children sitting next to the helicopter’s pilot, as well as another of the whole family, with one youngster giving a thumbs up.
All six passengers on the aircraft were killed less than 20 minutes after it took off on Thursday afternoon when it plunged into the Hudson River after “falling apart” in mid-air.
The three children died alongside their parents in the crash (Image: New York Helicopter Tours LLC)
The young family’s last few minutes before the doomed take-off have been revealed in photos (Image: New York Helicopter Tours LLC)
What do we know about the helicopter crash victims?
Among the victims of a traffic helicopter crash in New York on Thursday were Agustin Escobar, a Spanish tech executive, his wife and and their three young children.
Escobar was a high-ranking official at the technology company Siemens, according to reports, and previously acted as Global CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility during a nearly 30-year stint with the firm.
He was also named vice president of the German Chamber for Commerce for Spain in 2023.
The CEO frequently posted about sustainability in the rail industry on LinkedIn, and thanked his family for being an “endless source of energy and happiness” with “unconditional support love … and patience” in an update in 2022.
His wife Merce Camprubi Montal worked for Siemens Energy, based in Barcelona, for around seven years, according to her profile.
The couple’s three children, aged four, five and 11, were also killed in the crash on Thursday.
Escobar was a high-ranking CEO at the tech company Siemens (Image: Europa Press)
New York’s history of helicopter crashes
The skies over New York City are often packed with aircrafts, serving private, commercial and tourist purposes.
At least 38 people have died in helicopter accidents since 1977, with the last collision recorded in June 2019, when a pilot was killed after a chopper hit the roof of a skyscraper during heavy fog.
Two people were also injured after a helicopter crashed into the Hudson shortly after takeoff in May 2019, and five people died in a charter flight that crashed into the East River in March 2018.
Further back, five people were killed after a blade broke off a helicopter on a helipad at the top of the former Pan Am skyscraper in Manhattan in 1977. The incident led to a ban of helipads from Manhattan rooftops.
Aircraft wreckage pulled from river
Emergency services pulled the helicopter wreckage from the Hudson River overnight, with photos showing a crane lifting the battered remains of the sightseeing Bell 206 from the water.
Michael Roth, owner of New York Helicopters, told the New York Post he had “no clue” of the cause of the fatal crash.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, [is] that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” he said.
Mr Roth added that he had never seen anything like it during his 30 years in the business but reasoned that “these are machines, and they break”.
A family of five Spanish tourists and a pilot were killed afte the helicopter broke apart in mid-air (Image: Getty)
The flight lasted less than 18 minutes before disaster struck (Image: Getty)
New York mayor confirms all victims have been removed from Hudson River
New York Mayor Eric Adams has confirmed that all six victims of the helicopter crash on Thursday have been pulled from the Hudson River by divers.
“At this time, all six victims have been removed from the water,” he told reporters at a briefing. The mayor previously described the crash as a “heartbreaking and tragic” incident.
Four of the chopper’s passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, with two others taken to nearby hospitals, where they later died.
The victims included Spanish tech executive Agustin Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three young children, according to reports.
Helicopter fell apart in mid-air, witnesses say
New Yorker Bruce Wall said he saw an aircraft “falling apart” in mid-air over the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon, with its tail and propeller coming off in the horror crash that killed six people.
Dani Horbiak also heard what sounded like “several gunshots in a row, almost in the air” from her home in Jersey City, New Jersey, she told PA.
Ms Horbiak then looked out of her window and saw the helicopter “splash in several pieces into the river”.
Leslie Camacho, who works at a restaurant on the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, added that “a bunch of smoke” had been coming out of the chopper before it hit the water.
‘Catastrophic mechanical failure’ may have doomed pilot
Footage of the crash suggests that a “catatrophic mechanical failure” left the helicopter pilot with no hope of saving the aircraft, Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was in the Marine Corps said.
He added that it was possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck against the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free-fall.
“They were dead as soon as whatever happened, happened,” Mr Green said. “There’s no indication they had any control over the craft. No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts.
“It’s like a rock falling to the ground. It’s heartbreaking.”
Further details of family killed in tragedy
Investigations into the cause of the helicopter crash, which killed a family of five from Spain and the pilot, are underway and more information is emerging about its tragic victims.
Agustin Escobar, a tech CEO at Siemens, was aboard the tour helicopter with his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, a director at the same company and the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of presidents of FC Barcelona, Spanish media has reported.
New York police officials have also confirmed the ages of their three children, who also died in the devastating crash. They were aged just four, five, and 11 – and had flown in from Barcelona that morning.
The identity of the pilot is yet to be released.
The Spanish family were among the six victims of the tragic crash (Image: New York Helicopter Tours LLC)
Crash was ‘not only devastating—it was foreseeable’
Helicopter tours around New York City have often drawn the ire of local resident and politicians in the past, with frequent noise complaints from tourists taking in the Big Apple from the air.
US Congressman Jerry Nadler, who represents Manhattan’s west and east sides, called Thursday’s helicopter crash ‘heartbreaking’ but said the dangers posed by these tours meant the “incident was not only devastating—it was foreseeable.”
He slammed the dangers of helicopter tours over New York and called on the Federal Aviation Authority to act “to prevent further loss of life.”
Pilot’s final radio call
A haunting radio call made by the pilot of a sightseeing helicopter just moments before it plunged into New York City’s Hudson River has been released.
Following the tragic incident, Michael Roth, CEO of New York Helicopters, confirmed that the aircraft ran out of fuel just minutes into their journey. He recounted what could be one of the last radio calls made by the pilot moments before the crash.
Read the full story.
Crash victim spent past month in UK
The named victim of the New York helicopter crash, Agustin Escobar, was a senior executive at Siemens, the former president of its Spanish operations and current CEO of Rail Infrastructure.
According to social media posts, he spent much of the past month in the UK, visiting various Siemens rail infrastructure projects.
While in the UK, Escobar was given a ride in the cab of a London Thameslink train to see its use of Siemens technology and met with HS2 officials.
The rail expert said: “The conversations with the train drivers highlighted the real-world benefits our solutions deliver in their daily operations.”
He described his visit as an “incredible stay.”
Agustin Escobar toured UK infrastructure site on his visit (Image: Linkedin)
Identities of New York helicopter crash confirmed
The president of Siemens’ Spanish operations and his family tragically perished in the devastating New York City helicopter crash, reports suggest.
On Thursday, the sightseeing helicopter plummeted into the Hudson River, claiming the lives of all on board, including the pilot and a Spanish tourist family of five. Identified as Agustín Escobar along with his wife and three children, they had only just touched down in New York that day, flying in from Barcelona, according to officials.
Read the full story.
Images show helicopter wreckage after crash
Authorities in New York have recovered the wreckage of the crashed Bell 206 helicopter.
During the horrifying crash that took place over the Hudson River at 3.17pm local time, the aircraft’s rotors appear to fall off before the helicopter fell out of the sky into the Hudson River.
Images from the recovery efforts show the damage this did to the small aircraft, with twisted metal being all that remains of the helicopter’s body.
The wreckage of a helicopter is removed from the water after crashing into the Hudson River (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Helicopter tour company had previous issues
The company behind Thursday’s tragic helicopter crash is facing scrutiny after the fatal accident, which claimed the lives of a Spanish tech CEO, Agustin Escobar, as well as four of his family members and the pilot.
New York Helicopter has been flying tours around New York City for years, but this crash was not their first. In 2013, one of their choppers was forced into an emergency landing on the Hudson River, near Manhattan.
The flight was carrying a family of four from Sweden, who escaped unharmed after the chopper was abled to deploy flotation devices to keep it upright in the water.
In 2015, shortly after takeoff, one New York Helicopter pilot was forced into a hard landing while hovering 20 feet above the ground.
This aircraft had been involved in a similar incident five years before, and was found to have an “unairworthy” drive shaft, the New York Times has reported.
Like the one involved in the fatal crash on the Hudson, Thursday, this helicopter was a Bell 206 model leased from Meridian Helicopters in Louisiana.
Helicopter tour CEO ‘devastated’ by tragedy
The boss of the helicopter tour company that operated the flight which crashed into the Hudson River has spoken out about the tragedy, which has claimed six lives.
Michael Ruth, CEO of New York Helicopter, said: “I’m absolutely devastated. The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter.
“And I haven’t seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business.”
Spanish tech CEO and family named as victims
Five of the six victims of the helicopter crash, which took place around 3.15pm local time, have been identified by US law enforcement. The crash took place just 15 minutes after takeoff.
Speaking to the New York Times, officials said that Agustin Escobar, who has been President of tech giant Siemens in Spain since 2022, was one of the victims.
Escobar is reported to have died in the crash, alongside his three children and an adult relative.
President Trump speaks out after ‘horrible’ crash
President Trump posted about the New York helicopter crash on his media platform, Truth Social, shortly after midnight.
He described the crash as “horrendous”, before stating that his cabinet pick for Transport was “on it,” with an official report on the incident coming “shortly.”
New Jersey Senator ‘heartbroken’ after crash
Democratic Senator Cory Booker has shared his heartbreak at the shocking helicopter crash.
The New Jersey politician said he was grateful for the “swift action by emergency responders.”
Pictures from Hudson River show floating debris
Emergency services in New York are gearing up to recover the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River.
Images from the scene show an Army Corps of Engineers crane sitting in the dock near to where the crash occurred.
Further images also show debris floating in the river, including what appears to be a passenger safety booklet.
An Army Corps of Engineers floating crane awaits recovery work (Image: Getty Images)
Debris floats in the water at the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River (Image: AP)
New York Mayor shares further details on victims
Mayor Eric Adams gave further information about the six people who died in the helicopter crash on the Hudson.
The New York City Mayor told reporters that the five passengers on board were a family from Spain. The victims included three children and three adults.
Adams said: “Our hearts go out to the family of those who were on board and all six who were on board of the helicopter. It’s still fresh, it’s still new, and the investigation is ongoing.”
He added: “Here’s what we know at this time. At approximately 3.17 this afternoon, we began receiving multiple calls for a helicopter that had crashed in the water.
“Three adults and three children were on board a Bell 206 helicopter that had left from the downtown skyport at around 3pm.
“Members from the FDNY and NYPD harbour units arrived at the scene and divers from both agencies entered the water. At this time, all six victims have been removed from the water and, sadly, all six victims have been pronounced deceased.”
Live footage of the Hudson River after horror crash
Emergency services remain in place on the Hudson River and surrounding areas while investigators look into the circumstances around tonight’s fatal helicopter crash.
Livestreamed video of the river shared by Associated Press shows a New York Fire Department boat staying next to the crash site, while the flashing blue lights of emergency vehicles can be seen in the background.
Four victims pronounced dead at the scene and two died in hospital
New York Police Department commissioner Jessica Tisch says NYPD divers recovered four people from the scene, and the fire department recovered two people.
During the press conference, she said: “Immediate life-saving measures were undertaken on the vessels at the scene, as well as the adjoining pier.
“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries.”
New York Mayor: All six victims removed from the water
Speakng at a news conference, Eric Adams, New York City mayor said: “At this time, all six victims have been removed from the water and all six victims have been pronounced deceased.
“Our hearts go out to the family of those who are on board. And all six who were on board of the helicopter.”
Close-up image of helicopter upside down in water
New footage shows the helicopter upside down in the Hudson River.
Emergency services remain at the scene as rescue efforts are underway.
(Image: Getty)
Coast Guard paused boat traffic on river
The Coast Guard has stopped vessel traffic in the area and established a safety zone, ABC News reports.
NY Senator: Investigation crew on its way
New York Senator Chuck Schumer said the national transportation safety board, which investigates aviation accidents, is on its way.
Helicopter ‘fell apart’ mid-air
Witness Bruce Wall told PA that he saw the aircraft “falling apart” in mid-air.
He said the tail and propeller came off, yet the propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it plummeted into the water.
What we know so far
– Six people have died in a helicopter crash, AP reports
– Two adults and three children from Spain were on board, as well as a pilot
– The aircraft crashed in the Hudson river in New York, near Pier 40
– The accident took place at 3.17pm local time today
– Helicopter identified as a Bell 206
New York Mayor: ‘Avoid the area’
Writing on X, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said: “The team is on the scene at the heartbreaking and tragic crash in the Hudson River.
FDNY and NYDP are assisting first responders closer to the New Jersey side of the river. Please avoid the area near Pier 40 in Manhattan in the meantime.”
Eyewitness heard a ‘loud snap’
A passerby told Eyewitness News that he saw the helicopter crash. “I heard a loud snap … I looked over … and I could see a helicopter falling on its side and splash into the water,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone come out.”
Helicopter believed to be a private tourist aircraft
According to the flight tracking site Flightradar24, the aircraft involved is believed to be N216MH, a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV.
Emergency services pictured at the scene
Rescue efforts are underway with police and fire departments at to the scene. Emergency vehicles are reported to be on both sides of the river.
The fire department said it received a report of a helicopter in the water at 3:17 p.m (Image: PA)
Helicopter ‘broke mid-air’
Taking to X, a social media user shared a clip of the wreckage, adding: “Helicopter crashed in Hudson! The chopper broke off midair and dropped!”
Six dead after helicopter crash
Six people were killed after a helicopter, carrying two adults and three children from Spain, crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon.
